Machine for converting horizontal into rotary motion



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G. W. RIGHARDSON.-- Machine for Converting Horizontal into Rotary Motion. No. 228,968. Patented June15,l880.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. RICHARDSON, OF MILTON, VERMONT.

MACHINE FOR CONVERTING HORIZONTAL INTO ROTARY MOTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,968, dated June 15, 1880.

Application filed March 31, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that LGEORGE W. RICHARD SON, a citizen of the United States, and resident at Milton, in the county of Ohittenden and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Converting Horizontal into Rotary Motion; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a machine for converting horizontal into rectilinear motion, and which may be adjusted to give a reverse movement to the rotary mechanism.

It consists of a wheel having two series of oppositely-facing pivoted pawls or teeth, combined with racks having correspondingly-facing teeth or pawls adapted to separately engage the two series of teeth or pawls on the wheel, pistons having pitmen connected to a pivoted beam, levers, one bearing upon one of said racks and the other bearing upon the other rack and provided with vertical arms, a plate, and a lever or tongue having projections separately engaging with the aforesaid arms, substantially as hereinafter more fully set forth. 7

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a detail view, showing the mechanism for throwing the device into or out of gear. Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the ratchet-wheels, and Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of a modification for giving a continuous rotary motion in one direction by the use of two rack-bars.

a is the frame which supports the various parts of my invention.

1) is the axle or revolving shaft, on which are fixed the ratchet or pawl wheels 0 c.

The pawl-wheels c c are duplicates of each other, and the description of the construction of one will answer for both. The body of the wheel is made solid, having a circumferential face, 0 wide enough to provide space in which (Model.)

I form the two circumferential parallel channels c c.

d d are a series of pivoted pawls placed in the channels 0 0. They are pivoted on pins or rods al and they have under them spring or rubber support (1 which is arranged to hold the outer or engaging end, 61, in position outside of the periphery of the wheels 0 c, as shown clearly in Fig. 4:. The rear end, d of the pawl projects beyond the pivoted point or center of motion, and lies on the bottom of the channel and acts as a stop to give uniformity in the positions 'of the several pawls in the series.

The channels 0 c are formed so as to have an intervening space, 0 between the two series of pawls of about the Width of the thickness of the piston which carries the rack-bars, hereinafter described.

6 e are the pistons, arranged on opposite sides of the frame a and over the space of the wheels 0 c, as shown. Their rear ends slide in bearings a a in the bar a of the frame a, while their other ends are held in mortises f, formed in the under side of the cross-bar g, fixed on the upper side of the frame, or nearly over the axle b. The mortise f is made wide enough to hold not only the piston but the rack-bars, hereinafter described.

The pistons slide back and forth in their bearings, and receive motion from the arms ee, pivoted to their upper sides. The arms 6 c are pivoted to the walking-beam h, which is pivoted at its center to the frame a.

Motion is imparted from an engine or other suitable power to the entire mechanism through the medium of the walking-beam or by 0011- nections made with the ends of the pistons cc. The pistons have an alternating back-and-forth movement.

K K are the rack-bars, which are arranged on opposite sides of, and have their rear ends pivoted at K to, the piston 0. They lie against the sides of the piston, and their forward ends pass through the mortise f, which acts as a guide to hold them in place over the wheels 0 c and immediately over the series of pawls d d. Their ends are held by a small guide-plate, K fastened to the end of the piston, and they have a vertical or swinging movement on their pivots K i On the underside of the rack-bars, and near their-rear ends, I place a spring, K", which presses them upward and away from the pawlwheels 0 0 when released by the levers, hereinafter described. On theirunder edges I form the ratchet-teeth K, which are arranged at distances apart corresponding to the distances between the pawls d d.

The outer rack, K, has its teeth arranged to engage the pawls d, while the inner rack, K, is constructed with its teeth arranged in the opposite direction, so that it will engage the series of pawls d.

The racks on both sides of the machine bein g correspondingly constructed and arranged with reference to the series of pawls, it will be seen that a continuous revolving motion will be given to the wheels 0 c and axle b by the alternating movement imparted to the rackbars by the mechanism herein before described, and that the direction of revolution of said wheels and axle will be determined by the use of both the racks K or by both the racks K.

To one side of the bar g, I pivot two gearing-levers, m m, the outer ends of which rest on top of the inner rack-bars, K, while their inner ends extend near to the center of said bar g, and are both connected to a sliding lever, m, which moves in bearings in the crossarm 9. By drawing the sliding lever m upward it depresses the outer end of the levers m, which press the racks down until the ratch- ,et-teeth engage the inner series, (1, of the pawls on the wheels 0 c, and by pushing the said lever m downward the rack-bars are released, and the springs K raise the said rack-bars till their teeth are entirely clear of the pawls.

a n are levers corresponding to the levers m m, and are arranged on the opposite side of the bar g, and are operated by the lever it. Their outer ends extend over the pistons c and are turned down, so as to press on the upper sides of the outer racks, K, and force the latter down to engage the outer series, (I, of the pawls on the wheels 0 0.

The slides m a may be locked by a tongue, 0, which may be turned and engaged with either one, as may be required.

It will be seen that the racks K and the pawls cl will cause the wheels 0 c to revolve in one direction, and that the racks K and pawls d are arranged to give a rotary motion to said wheels in the opposite direction, and that a reversal of motion can be easily effected by disengaging one set of rack-bars and engaging the others.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown a modification of the use of two rack-bars alternating in their movements to give a continuous rotary motion to a single wheel. The two bars are arranged to pass each other over the periphery of the wheel, and are operated by L- shaped levers, the ends of which come together and are pivoted to a single piston-rod. This arrangement may be used also in connection with a wheel having two rows of pivoted pawls, the latter in each series being made with their engaging ends wide enough to engage both raclrbars. In this case there would be two sets of rack-bars pivoted to the l -levers and operated in substantially the same manner as hereinbefore described, so that a direct or reverse rotary motion could be imparted to the ratchet-wheel. I

The pivoted pawls in wheels 0 0 permit the rack-bars to slide back over themrin the backward movement of the piston.

Having thus described my-invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In mechanism for converting motion, the combination, with the wheel 0, having the two series ofoppositely-racing pivoted pawls or teeth d d, of the racks K K, having correspon dinglyfacing teeth or pawls adapted -to separately engage the two series of teeth or pawls on wheel 0, pistons c c, with pitmen 0, connected to the pivoted beam h, levers m a, one hearing upon the rack K and the other upon the rack K, and provided, respectively, with the vertical arms m a, plate 9, and lever or tongue 0, having projections engaging with the arms m it separately, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of March, 1880.

GEORGE WV. RICHARDSON.

Witnesses:

HOMER E. POWELL, GEORGE T. MEAD. 

